In the Jungle
by Kuvera
Summary: Talking apes, dog-like elephants and a crimson-eyed half-naked jungle man; could Yugi's trip to Africa get any weirder? Rating subject to change.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or George of the Jungle. Trust me, I'm a fanfiction writer. :D

**Notes**: I…I just don't know. I had the sudden surge to watch the George of the Jungle (the one with Brendan Fraser) one day and…then…this idea came into being, along with the title. To be honest, I'm kind of surprised that I haven't seen another fanfiction do something like this, at least none that I have read.

How serious can you get with a fic like this, really? This is a fanfiction based off of George of the Jungle where Atemu, most of the time, is dressed in only a loincloth.

…do I have anyone's attention yet?

* * *

A sputtering roar of two failing turbine engines bellowed through the green wilderness below, the sound rousing the indigenous animals into a terrified frenzy. Flying above the untouched jungle, the scarred frame of the passenger jet shook and wavered under the increasing speed at which it was falling out of higher altitude. The pilot kept an iron grip on the control column and grit his teeth in his effort to keep the plane steady, several red lights blinking at him rapidly on the dash. His eyes scoured the expanse of endless brush that zipped by underneath him as he searched desperately for any patch of open field to land the jet.

His co-pilot sat limp in his chair beside him, knocked unconscious after the plane had narrowly escaped from crashing nose-first into the side of a giant mountain, lurching both the pilots and passengers to the right violently. The sudden jerk had thrown the other man against the dash console and knocked him out cold. Taking hold of the control column, the captain barely had time to see if his co-pilot was still breathing when the engines began to stutter and the jet started on a nose dive.

Now he struggled with the tension that held the steering column as he continued to keep the craft airborne long enough to find a suitable place to land.

Suddenly a dark stretch of land pierced through the lush jungle, not all that wide but plenty long enough to give the plane room to touch down moderately safely. The pilot's eyes lit up with hope and began to push the plane downward towards the ground, the entire jet beginning to tremble against the increased air pressure. The earth came closer and closer into view, a scarred hatch underneath the plane opening up and revealing the intact landing gear.

The pilot sucked in a breath and waited for the right time to steer the column down and activate the air brakes. Winds whistled past the jet and, for a single moment, everything seemed to move in slow-motion. An ocean of green flew by for what seemed like hours when the jungle disappeared and a dark valley suddenly sprung out below. The captain drove the column forward and everything around him shook and roared like thunder.

* * *

Now awake and sitting beside his captain, the co-pilot stared up at the plane, still amazed that everyone was still alive, considering the extremely turbulent landing and what exactly the jet had landed on; the whole scarred craft sat high in the air, lodged securely amidst in the branches on top of a giant tree. No one understood just how the plane was still sitting up there. Even the captain himself couldn't fathom how he managed to land it like that without crushing the trunk or spearing through the hull of weakened metal.

Each emergency door on the plane was open, a rope hanging out over the side and reaching the ground just far enough for someone to drop safely into the inflatable emergency rafts that were set up beneath them.

Eventually, the pilot saw that there was only one small family left on the plane now, a wealthy-looking husband and wife with their baby boy. As they waited for the people in front of them to climb down, the dark-skinned mother quietly sang as she hushed her sniffling child, swaying him in her arms gently.

"_Dela…dela…ngiyadela when I'm with you. Dela…sondela mama, sondela…_"

The woman's singing was cut short when the head of another passenger popped up from his position on the tree trunk, having quickly scaled the tree to take the now quiet infant down to safety while the parents descended down the cord. "You two alright? Do you or your baby need any help?", A passing steward asked the two once they reached the ground, quickly look them over for any obvious bruising or injuries.

His eyes lingered on the baby boy in the other passenger's arms. His hair hidden beneath a blanket, the child shared the skin color of his parents, a healthy bronze, however his eyes were what held the man's attention; wide yet angular-shaped eyes colored an unusually bright crimson.

The woman brushed her black hair out of her eyes while her husband helped her out of the raft and reached out for her child's carrier, smiling gratefully at the man. "A-ah…yes, we are fine. Just a bit shaken it would seem, thank y-"

A long ominous groan of wood and metal reverberated from the tree, everyone staring up as a thick branch hanging above them suddenly gave way beneath the weight of the plane and snapped off of the tree.

"Look out!" An attendant roared, the passenger jumping out of the way and holding the baby tight in his arms. The parents and other passengers just barely escaped in the opposite direction, the falling limb crashing into the ground with a rumbling thud and showering anyone nearby in splinters and debris.

Having dived backwards into the small pile of luggage salvaged from the jet, the steward and passenger held the infant's carrier close and stared wide-eyed at the branch that now lay. "E…e-everyone okay?" he shouted.

The other man set the baby's seat beside the suitcases, keeping the child far away from the tree as he could, everyone's minds spurred into action from the momentary terror they felt speeding through their systems. Ensured that the baby was safe from anymore falling junk on the other side of the stout jungle valley (and their senses still frazzled from the crash), the man and steward left the boy near the luggage and walked shakily over to the crowd of passengers and helped the mother and father up from where they landed away from the tree, adrenaline still making them all shiver.

Still recovering, the captain stood beside the fallen branch and waved his hand at the crowd. "Okay everyone," the pilot announced, drawing almost everyone's attention; the mother was looking around the group, searching for her baby. "Is everybody okay? I sent an emergency message out to the closest civilized city that I could back in the plane, but we should expect pick-up soon as long as we all stay calm! I'm sure someone had to have seen this jet going down nearby…"

The ground suddenly began to rumble beneath their feet like an earthquake, even rocking the giant broken branch. All of the passengers scrambled away from the tree, thinking it was going to lose another branch.

But when they looked, neither the tree nor the plane stirred. The shaking grew more violent and the rumbling sound echoed louder in their ears. "No one move! We don't know what's going on, just keep still-!" The captain's words were cut short when something burst out of the jungle bush across the plain; a stampede of frightened elephants came stomping through the field. As everyone screamed and dodged away from the giant animals, the mother finally spotted her baby. Her relief was short-lived when she gasped in horror. Her child was lying directly in the path of the panicking beasts!

"NO! My baby, I have to save my baby!" she shrieked at the steward who grabbed her arm the second she tried to make a run to her child. "You won't make it in time, ma'am, you'll be trampled!"

A blasting trumpet interrupted the man as the woman covered her face, dropped to her knees and let out a sobbing scream when the infant's carrier disappeared beneath the dust cloud and the elephant's monstrous pounding feet.

The blankets and plastic of the luggage and the baby's seat lay shattered underneath the elephants, now buried under a layer of dust and dirt. However, unnoticed by the others that watched the stampede in despair, there was no sign of the infant that had occupied the carrier moments before…

High above the charging elephants and the survivors, hidden in the lush trees of the jungle, the baby boy lay crying pitifully in the arms of the creature that had rescued him from being trampled to death, it's black fur brushing against his tear-stained cheeks. A large gorilla stared down at the infant with a strangely curious expression, lifting a hand to the baby's face and gently wiping away a tear. Then the ape let out a noise akin to a chuckle and whispered, surprisingly in competent English, "Well now…you are quite the lucky little human."

The gorilla looked to be arguing with himself for a moment, staring between the jungle plain and the baby. The clouds made from the stampede covered up the crowd of survivors and the elephant trumpets drowned out their calling of the baby's name. As far as the gorilla could see, this boy was all alone.

As he thought, the ape felt something solid tap against his hand. The sniffling infant held something shiny in it's tiny fingers, ignoring the metal in its grasp in favor of crying out to anyone that could hear. Prying it from the baby's hand, the ape watched the golden heart-shaped locket twirl in the sunlight. He blinked when his dark eyes caught a single word engraved on the back of the locket; "A…mu? Atu…no, that isn't it…" the ape struggled with the human language for a moment to pronounce the name. "At-emu…Atemu, there we go. Hmm," the ape muttered, looking down at the infant who had now grown quiet and was staring back up at him with those crimson orbs. "If I were to guess, Atemu would be your name?" The baby smiled and giggled, a small arm popping out from under his blanket and batting at the swinging locket. Being a baby, Atemu thought nothing of the intelligent, human way that this ape was talking to him.

The gorilla smiled at the human boy called Atemu. "I see I was right then. Well little one, as a proper ape, I couldn't simply leave a poor thing like you out here in the jungle all alone could I?" The baby cooed and the gorilla let him hold onto the locket.

With a final glance around the plain where he had found the child, his view of the passengers still blocked by flying dust and leaves, the highly intelligent ape tightened his hold on Atemu and made his way deeper into the wild jungle mountains, deep into the heart of Africa inhabited by lions, elephants, monkeys, and birds. The untouched wilderness known to the locals as the Bukuvu.

* * *

_-20 Years Later-_

"Okay! So hi every-, er, are you recording, Mr. Shadi? Oh you are, okay uh…hey there, guys, it's me again!"

Flashing a smile at the video camera held by his jungle guide, Yugi Mutou waved as he stood in an open flourishing plain at the foot of a great mountain, a pair of zebras barking quietly in the background. "It's our third day here in the Bukuvu, just came back from a quick stop near Bujumbura, the closest city near here, and I've been having a ton of fun." Yugi pointed to his right, motioning for the other man to follow with the camera.

"We've just found our first ba, uh…ban…?" Yugi looked somewhat helplessly at his escort behind the camera, laughing at himself for forgetting the name of what he had wanted to show. His guide, an older Egyptian local originally named Kwame (although the man preferred to be called by his middle name, Shadi) tried not to chuckle with the boy and whispered from behind the video camera, "Banyan tree."

Yugi, dressed for the weather in a white button-up, beige pants and thick boots, made a face and smiled sheepishly. "Banyan tree, that's it." He repeated, rubbing the back of his neck. He walked over to the said tree, a giant among the smaller trees that dotted the gold and green plain. Standing on one of the dozens of gnarled roots, he opened his mouth to speak when a small screech from up in the tree stole his attention. Three capuchin monkeys sat on a thick branch, nibbling away at the fruits they held and looking curiously at both Yugi and the video camera.

Yugi laughed and held his hand flat when one of the monkeys crawled closer to inspect them, the animal sniffing at his fingers. "Aw!" he partly whispered so he wouldn't frighten the monkey away. "Isn't this little guy adorable? Yep, way better than the zoo." Shadi chuckled and continued to film until Yugi decided to move on and return to camp, taking the video camera and giving the older man some time to help set up their nearby camp.

After checking the battery life, the boy turned the video camera back on and began recording around their camp. "And here we are at today's camp site, a bit more spacious than the last one. Uh, let's just say that I'm glad I had my own tent. Passing by our 'outhouse' here…which you don't want to see, believe me." Yugi snickered and turned back towards the tents, bringing the other men that came along with him to the jungle into view.

"And this is our other guide, Rishid, a friend of Shadi's who works with him. C'mon Rishid, wave!" The stoic but friendly Egyptian man smiled and waved to the camera, crowded around the jeep loaded with some luggage and camping cargo. Turning around, he focused the lens on his guide. "And here, trying to sneak away from the camera, is our guide Shadi.. " The older bald, dark-skinned man, pulling more gear from another jeep, nodded to the camera with a small grin. "And trust me, without him, we would be hopelessly lost."

Yugi continued filming what he missed around the area, catching a small herd of zebras passing by farther down the valley. "All around an awesome trip, been having great weather. Y'know, considering it's a tropical jungle and all, I'm surprised we haven't been completely waterlogged by rain yet."

He spun around the camp one more time with the video camera, his eye looking to the trail that was partially hidden in the surrounding trees and bushes with a tired but pleased sigh. "Okay then, I think I've wasted everyone's time enough here. Let's end this part with a nice shot of the trail that led us here and-"

"Hellooooo, Bujumburans!"

Yugi jumped, jerking the camera away from his eye. Looking down the trail, he gaped at the sight; three tall men were pulling dozens of suitcases out of the trunk of a brown van, a black-haired young woman climbing out of the backseat in her dangerous-looking high heels and bright yellow dress. Yugi blinked and stammered as the woman's eyes landed on him and she waved at him happily. "V-Vivian?" he yelped, quickly turning off the camera and shoving it back into its holder.

"Yugi darling! Finally found you hiding around here!" she shouted back, smiling and pushing her purse into one of her helpers hands as she strolled into the camp site. "U-uh…" Yugi was at a loss for words; how did Vivian find him all the way out here in the Bukuvu? _'Well,' _he thought to himself. _'She's found me in more remote places before.'_

"Vivian, wha-what are you doing here?" he asked, glued to the spot while she attempted to walk as the heels of her shoes kept getting stuck on twigs and mounds of dirt.

Vivian looked almost offended. Almost. "Oh Yugi, is that any way to greet your dear fiancé? Don't say that you're not happy to me?" Yugi laughed nervously, running his fingers through his tri-colored hair, trying hard to push back his disappointment. Oh yes, his fiancé. He kind of felt bad that he had almost forgotten about that.

Both he and Vivian Wong were heirs to their wealthy families' businesses. Yugi's grandfather owned a popular chain of video game stores, buying and selling games of all types, while Vivian's family were a small sect of factory owners based in China. However, after briefly meeting her and her parents at a new years ball thrown together by his wealthy family months ago, 19-year-old Yugi had woken up the next day to find out, via his excited mother, that he was now engaged to the 23-year-old daughter of the people he barely knew.

An entire morning of arguing and pleading wouldn't change her mind, his mother convinced that the marriage would help in the demand of their businesses. But Yugi knew the other reason why she was pushing the marriage; since he had turned 17, she had been pressuring him into settling down, told him that it would be better for him to marry a nice girl while he was young rather than spend his adulthood alone. Yugi remembered glaring holes into his mom's office floor, unsure what to feel at his parent's implied tone. He knew he wasn't ready for any kind of marriage yet and, from how his mother kept mentioning a 'wife', he was sure she still didn't know that Yugi was bisexual. Not a huge factor, but after all these years, he still wasn't sure if his parents would approve of that or not.

Eventually, with some counseling from his easy-going father, Yugi forced himself to accept the inevitable and try to make the best of his situation. Maybe he could get to know Vivian a little better before the marriage, find some common ground to start a relationship on and let it grow from there.

Regrettably, Yugi didn't like what he had learned so far.

"O-Of course I am, Vivian…" He squeaked when the woman practically threw herself at him and latched her hands onto his shoulders, planting a deep wet kiss on his lips. His arms frozen against his side, Yugi coughed and gave an awkward chuckle as Vivian smiled down at him, content to keep him buried against her ample chest. He blushed furiously and struggled to take a step back in order to regain some personal space between him and his…energetic fiancé. "N-Nice to see you too, Viv. Why, er, how did you find me?" he asked.

Vivian giggled and gestured back to her van where the three gruff-looking men were busy unpacking. "A little birdie told me that you were out here, heaven knows why, and I decided to hire the best trackers around, Keith, Takaido and Satake! Remember, we read about them in the papers back home?" Yugi held back a sigh. He had definitely heard of those three before. It didn't help the time he had seen those names in the newspapers were on a list of suspected criminal charges.

"But enough about the little things, Yugi-poo. You there," she called to Shadi and Rishid watching them on the other side of the camp. "Please take my bags to this lovely young man's tent, on the double! You wouldn't want to keep a lady and her busy husband-to-be waiting now, would you?" Vivian waved to the men and made her way deeper into camp, looking around the simple tents with an obviously bothered look on her face.

Yugi, still a bit stunned from this sudden development, shrugged apologetically to the two natives and rubbed his temples. He came on this trip to Africa to get away from all of the stress of the city and San Francisco. There went his peaceful vacation…

* * *

Nighttime fell over the lush Bukuvu jungle, the animals growing quiet and the weather cooling down with a gentle breeze. A fire crackled and flickered in the middle of the encampment, everyone taking a seat around the flames and eating pre-made dinners.

Well, nearly everyone. Vivian paced around the tents, a cell phone pressed to her ear. Draping a blanket over his shoulders, Yugi nibbled at his salad. That same cell phone had been pushed against Vivian's ear for at least a full hour.

"Yes, yes, I'll take it. The biggest suite, right? Okay, the nearest Hilton, darling," She pulled the phone back and nudged Yugi's shoulder, looking at him with a relieved grin. "Finally got a hold of some competent people and they can airlift us to the hotel in two hours. Then-what? What's that, I'm losing you!" Vivian smashed the cell back to her ear, stuttering loudly and stumbling around the camp, trying to get a stronger reception. "Ah, damn it…" She angrily slapped the flip-phone shut and folded her arms with a pout. "Stupid remote jungle, can't get a decent signal around here."

"Vivian," Yugi muttered. "I don't want to go anywhere. Tomorrow we're all gonna head up to the big mountain to see the gorillas." He smiled, trying to bring the agitated woman into the conversation. "Come on, don't you want to see them too, out here in their natural habitats? It'll be fun."

Vivian plopped into the old chair next to Yugi and rolled her eyes. "Seeing big ugly monkeys sit around stuffing bananas into their face in a sweaty jungle? That's your idea of fun, Yugi? I'll only have some fun if those monkeys can make a good drink without destroying it." She giggled at her own joke, Yugi sharing an awkward glance with Shadi and Rishid, who leaned together and mumbled in Zulu. They laughed to themselves, Yugi translating what he could hear and muffling a laugh with them. Vivian huffed at the quiet snickering and sank back childishly into her chair. "And they are called apes, Viv, not monkeys."

"Whatever."

Sitting to the right of the fire, her three hired trackers looked up from their meals at the mention of the apes and they smirked. The tallest of the three, Keith, leaned forward in his seat. "My pals and I wouldn't mind to help you and Ms. Wong up the mountain then, Mr. Mutou. If you are so keen on going.

Takaido, one of the other three trackers, grinned and adjusted the small glasses resting on his nose. "Yeah, you never know with these dangerous jungles. With Shadi leading the way of course, he is your guide after all."

Keith reached over and clapped a gloved hand on the man's shoulder none to lightly, the guide giving the American a blank stare in return. "Besides, I heard that the apes around these parts are supposed to be quite a…fascinatin' sight." Yugi couldn't help but not like the tone in the man's voice as he spoke, watching him take a swig from the beer bottle in his hand. Keith ignored the boy's look and smirked. "Especially that ape-man, you know? Heard he is what attracts some of the wildlife-lovin' folk."

Yugi raised an eyebrow, sitting up in his chair, his curiosity piqued. "Huh? An ape-man? What's that, Keith?" he asked.

The American gestured to Shadi. "Ask him, I'm sure he can tell you all about it." Said man shook his bald head and sighed at Keith, shifting in his seat.

"It is only a native legend, boy, nothing more." Yugi leaned forward towards Shadi and smiled at him across the fire. "Please, Mr. Shadi, could you tell us? Just one after-dinner story?" The elder Egyptian blinked at the wide puppy-dog eyes that he gave him, chuckling in defeat. He couldn't resist the polite boy's request. Beside him, Rishid nodded to him.

"Well, the people say that he towers over normal gorillas at 8 feet tall with the strength of 10 lions. When the moon is full high above Ape Mountain, he wanders the jungle alone, piercing the silence of the plains with his deep, lonely howl…" As Yugi sat forward, enraptured by the tale, Vivian scoffed and pretended to yawn, looking irritated by her fiancé's sudden interest in the old man's story.

"Some say that he thirsts for blood and stalks any prey that he may find." Rishid picked up the tale from his friend and looked around the small group, his dark green eyes landing on Yugi's curious gaze. "But others say that he is calling for the mate that he longs for…but, sadly, will never find. By day, he rules over the Bukuvu from the top of his great mountain. And by night-"

"He and sasquatch run a mini-casino at the Bukuvu Cineplex, now showing The Planet of the Apes." Vivian interrupted, giggling at the looks on the group's faces. Yugi bit back an agitated sigh and flopped back into his chair, the atmosphere of the story now ruined by his fiancé's poor attempt at a joke. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Satake and Takaido whispering excitedly to Keith, muttering something about the apes before Keith stomped on their feet, flashing Shadi an innocent grin.

Vivian groaned and scooted her chair close against Yugi's, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Yugi love, what are we doing here?" She whined, pouting at his exasperated glare. "Vivian," He warned, his patience already growing thin. "I came all this way…"

"Okay, okay!" Vivian smirked and kissed his cheek, smearing her pink lipstick on his skin. "The things we women must do for you men and your odd hobbies." Yugi scrubbed his cheek and rolled his amethyst eyes when she stood and made her way to the 'outhouse', letting out a squeaky "Ew!" as she pushed her way into the bushes. He bowed his head to Shadi and Rishid. "Sorry about her, Shadi. I didn't think she would come this far to find me…"

The man nodded and stood, dismissing his apology with a wave of his hand. "It's not your fault, Yugi. We'll just have to deal with a bit more…baggage than we expected." Rishid glanced at Keith and his companions before he stood and motioned to the tents. "But I think it's time for everyone to get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow. Good night, Mr. Mutou."

Yugi smiled and laid back in his seat. "Good night. I think I'll stay up for a little while longer." Rishid and Shadi bowed and left, Keith, Satake and Takaido eventually following suit.

Vivian popped out of the bush a few minutes later, shivering and cringing in disgust. "Ewwww, ew ew ew!" She mumbled, standing beside Yugi and looking at the barren camp fire. "Everyone asleep?" He nodded at his fiancé, tossing in a block of firewood into the flames. After a moment, Vivian smiled and dropped herself onto Yugi's lap, kissing his cheek again and whispering into the blushing man's ear. "Yugi-poo…everyone's sleeping and we're all alone…"

Yugi tried not to yelp and resisted the urge to shove the woman off of his lap. "V-V-Vivian, please, I'm tired." He managed to squeak. "W-We need to rest, er, for tomorrow if we're gonna hike up the mountain, s-so…um, yeah." A gust of air whistled in his ear as Vivian sighed and pulled herself away, tugging on the hem of her dress that had ridden up her legs. "Fine. I'm taking the sleeping bag then." She marched into his tent, zipping it halfway angrily and kicking her heels outside.

Shakily prodding the fire again, Yugi took a deep relieved breath; that was a bit too close for comfort. Vivian wasn't an unattractive woman, he wasn't saying that at all. He just couldn't bring himself to find her attractive in _that_ way, the glaring differences in their personalities setting themselves forward in his mind. He hadn't meant to make her angry though…angrier than she already was anyway.

Yugi slouched and leaned his head back, staring up at the night sky littered with glittering stars. _'They shine so much brighter out here than in the city. Must be from all of the lights.' _He thought, letting his mind wander for a while, forgetting about the stress and impatience that Vivian had brought along with her. _'Hmm, I wonder if there really is something like the ape-man. Okay, it kinda sounds…well, a bit farfetched but it sounds interesting. Heh, if we do meet it up there in the mountain, I just hope that its friendly.'_ He frowned, playing the tale over again in his head. "Call for the mate that he longs for but will never find? Wow, that's…that's kinda tragic, really. Poor guy, a whole jungle to rule but no one to enjoy it with. Ugh, listen to me, I sound like one of those cheesy romance novels Anzu likes to read."

Lost in his thoughts, Yugi almost ignored the odd sound echoing from the surrounding trees. He blinked and searched the camp, looking for the source of the noise. It sounded like…drums? Way out here in the Bukuvu? He swallowed, Shadi never mentioned the possibility of native tribes living in these jungles.

A screech made Yugi jump out of his chair. He spun around and saw two capuchin monkeys swinging about in one of the trees, slapping their tiny hands against the branches, creating a thick drumming sound. The boy let go of the breath he had been holding, pressing his hand over his pumping heart. "Whew! You little guys nearly gave me a heart attack!" He chuckled.

The two monkeys soon leaped away into the canopy, the drumming growing softer until he could no longer hear it. Laughing at his own silliness, Yugi decided to fold up his chair and head off to bed. He snuck quietly into his tent, shaking his head when Vivian snored loudly in her sleep. She had taken the sleeping bag as she said she would, leaving a small spot next to her for Yugi, a thankfully comfortable blanket and pillow tossed in the corner. _'Could be worse. She could've made me sleep in one of the jeeps.'_

Tugging the blanket out of the corner, Yugi curled up beside Vivian, grunting when she turned over and wrapped her arms a bit too tightly around his waist, and tried to ignore her nearly constant snores. He eventually replayed Shadi's tale in his head over and over until he finally fell into slumber. The same drumming sound he heard by the fire went unnoticed as it thrummed in the cool air outside the tent.

* * *

And there is the first chapter finished! Leave a review/critique please? I will ensure my promise of Atemu in a loincloth if you do!


End file.
